Where do recipes come from? Family, community, tradition, and serendipitous accident are easy but incomplete answers.

The primary source of recipes has always been an individual cook’s imagination and palate. Over time, original recipes are modified by other cooks’ imaginations and adjusted by yet more cooks’ palates, to infinity and without limitation.

The food articles I enjoy most are ones that explain how a dish was developed or why a cook chose to combine certain flavors. Although its authors’ cooking styles and skills are quite different from my own, Ideas in Food is one of my favorite blogs. It focuses on the techniques and thought processes that go into creating unique flavor combinations.

I recently made Seafood and Vegetable Stew with Rouille. Here's how it came into being:

My kitchen counter was overflowing with garnet yams, bounty from more than one Full Circle Farms CSA box. I wanted to do something other than oven-roasting the yams or making oven fries. Looking for inspiration, I randomly pulled cookbooks off the shelves.

My first version of the stew was similar to Kafka’s, though I substituted sautéed sweet potatoes for boiled and edamame beans for limas. After tasting the broth, I wanted more flavor.

In my next version, I added sautéed onions and red bell peppers, and used a different Rouille recipe than Kafka’s. I seasoned the Rouille with dried, ground red Moroccan pepper (poivron rouge). This version was tasty, but I thought it could be better.

In my final version, I added crushed fennel seeds and shelled shrimp. This combination was exactly what I wanted. Although inspired by Kafka, the final stew is uniquely my own.

Although Moroccan recipes often call for paprika, niora peppers are what Moroccans use for “paprika.” The flavor of ground niora differs significantly from sweet Hungarian paprika. Niora is spicier and has a fruitier flavor than its Hungarian counterpart, which has a slightly bitter aftertaste.

Moroccan niora peppers are likely the same as the ñora peppers used in Romesco sauce and other Spanish and Catalonian dishes. In addition to having similar names, nioras and ñoras look the same. Most texts refer to nioras and ñoras only as members of the Capsicum annuum family; in other words, as domesticated peppers. However, in Catalan Cuisine, Colman Andrews says pepper scholar Charles Perry “thinks the nyora [ñora] pepper is the variety scientifically called Capsicum annuum grossum/provar. Pomiforme/sub-var. Conc. HumilirotundumHaz."

No matter what its scientific designation might be, poivron rouge has wonderful flavor and a permanent place in my spice cupboard. Its mildly spicy and fruity tastes make distinctively delicious Rouille and a mouth-wateringly good Seafood and Vegetable Stew.

Seafood and Vegetable Stew with Rouille (Red Pepper Sauce)Serves 4The stew may also be made with just fish or just shrimp; if so, use 1 pound of either ingredient. Although not necessary, steamed rice is a nice complement to the spicy, aromatic broth. Serve the rice on the side so eaters can stir the amount they desire into the stew.

Sauté the garnet yams in olive oil, lightly seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper, until they start to brown around the edges. Stir in the red bell peppers and onions, and continue to sauté until the onions soften. Add the crushed fennel seed and sauté for 1 minute. Stir in the fish stock, bring to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. (The recipe may be made ahead to this point.)

In a small bowl, whisk one cup of the hot broth into the Rouille. Stir this mixture into the simmering stew pot, along with the edamame beans, fish, and shrimp. Do not let boil or the Rouille may curdle. Simmer for 3-4 minutes, or until the seafood is cooked through. Stir in the lemon juice. Taste and add salt or lemon juice, as needed.

Sprinkle with minced parsley and serve immediately with steamed rice and wedges of lemon.

RouilleRecipe adapted from In the Hands of a Chef by Jody AdamsRouille goes well with all fish, and is a tasty addition to fish salads. The recipe may be doubled or tripled and keeps for a week in the refrigerator.

Put the egg yolk, mustard, and lemon juice in a blender and mix well. While the blender is running, add the vegetable oil drop by drop so that it emulsifies with the other ingredients. While the blender is running, pour in the olive oil in a steady stream. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until the Rouille is very smooth, scraping down the sides of the blender to ensure all ingredients are thoroughly incorporated.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~This is my recipe for Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted this week by Dee from The Daily Tiffin.

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comments:

I have to say I love the soup and the way you came about it. Let me also say, I'm very glad you covered this whole concept of "recipe development" in the first paragraph. It has been a point of contention with me lately. Some people are too stuck on traditional methods to even "think outside the square". To me, that's what cooking is all about...experimenting, testing, tweaking etc...until you reach your desired taste. well said Laurie...I have enormous respect for you and your philosophy. Cheers!

i think i'm in love with the peppers and the colour of the broth, plus the little spots of contrast in it - really memerising

i especially like the use of maps in posts - a bit of armchair travel for those of us who can't move around much these days (and we're staying steadfastly indoors at this moment because the deserts in your map have created dust storms that have now arrived in crete, bringing 'red rain' with them)

Whoa -- this is a pepper that's totally new to me. Will have to track some down, and try this soup, which looks and sounds delicious (and the color -- fantastic!). Thanks for introducing me to a new ingredient!

Thank you Peter. Experimenting, testing, and tweaking is what makes cooking worthwhile.

Maria, that red rain is no fun, plus it's bad for both Africa and Europe. As for maps, they are endlessly entertaining and, as you recently pointed out, are rich with cultural history.

Joan, thank you!

Val, I couldn't stand to cook every day if I couldn't use my creative energy on it.

Sophie, actually this recipe is really easy and goes together quickly. A blender makes quick work of the Rouille and none of the ingredients need to be long-cooked.

Peter, quit torturing me by bringing up that smoked paprika. As for the Mussolini approach, not in my kitchen! (or yours either)

Nihal, as for testing and tasting, you just did the same thing with your orange cake to great success!

Cindy, Alaskans are really spoiled when it comes to seafood, aren't we?

Lydia - an ingredient you've never heard of?????? Well, that just made my day!

JS, yes, one of the reasons I like peppers is their wide range of complex flavors. Glad you liked the soup!

Lulu, yes, clam nectar is the same thing as bottled clam juice. And, even though it wouldn't be my first choice, I've been known to use Better than Bouillon's Clam Base in dishes like this. If you do use Better than Bouillon, it's salty, so limit adding salt until the dish is done. That way you can taste to see if any additional is needed.

Welcome back, Laurie!Thank God, we can enjoy a fascinating world where recipes and culinary methods change, not at every national frontier, but from one home to another.Your soup looks so delicious!! :)

hello Laurie! This soup looks and sounds delicious! It has a lot of the foods/flavours I enjoy: shrimp, paprika, yams, red peppers and also Moroccan flavours. I need to have a look a that website, World Spice Merchants, I already have a large collection of spices and pastes as it is, but I could stand to use a few more unique ones. Nothing wrong with that, right? :)

Bijoux!!! The more ingredients the better - that's what I say anyway. Then again, I'm an ingredient hoarder so maybe not the best example.

Maria, thank you!

Christina, thanks for stopping by!

Tony, as for that "last few wintery days left" concept, for Alaskans its more like months rather than days. Not that I mind!

Ninja, if you make this, I sure hope your little girl likes it!

Nuria, exactly - good taste and should be the measure of all food - the narrow-minded among us miss out on some very delicious treats. As for commenting, I do read all your excellent posts dear, though sometimes it takes me a long while!

Mmmm, can't go wrong with fennel and seafood -- perfect addition to your creation! Great use of sweet potatoes and seafood, too. Love the info on the peppers, esp the side-by-side photos. Is "poivron rouge" the same as Turkish "pul biber"? Can't wait to try your rouille.

This seafood stew is equal parts delicious and interesting. A few changes I made to the original posted above... for the rouille, I had just regular sweet paprika and felt that I might not have gotten enough of the right flavor so I added a few roasted sweet red peppers to the fresh peppers in the stew. Also, I had mixed-colored, sweet mini peppers (red, orange and yellow) instead of just red. Finally, and this is (in my opinion) the only real adjustment worth making, I like to put both lemon zest and whole, wide slices of lemon right into the stew and let them cook along with the other ingredients. I fish them out before serving but think they add a really lovely, bright lemon flavor. Finally, I had some Thai coconut meat (I love to drink the water inside) so I made a fresh coconut rice and served it alongside this stew (on the side for those that wanted to eat is separately.) Fresh coconut is very lightly fragrant, unlike the canned stuff, and Thai coconut is very nutty and delicious.

About Me

Laurie Helen Constantino and her husband have homes in Anchorage, Alaska, and on a rural Greek island. In both kitchens, the foods of the Mediterranean play a starring role. Laurie's cookbook, Tastes Like Home: Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska, was published in 2007.
Laurie's photographs are featured on her blog Picturing Anchorage (www.picturinganchorage.wordpress.com), where she also writes about city walks, trail walks, and interesting events in Anchorage, Alaska's largest city.